One problem long associated with many varieties of snack foods is the tendency of topically applied substances, such as seasonings and decorations (often referred to as "toppings" herein), to become separated from the base portion of the food product. Such separation may occur, for example, during the preparation, packaging or transit of the food item. Separation during preparation or packaging can result in increased production costs and can complicate processing. Separation during packaging or transit can result in loose toppings becoming collected at the bottom of the package, while the product reaching the consumer has less than the desired complement of topping thereon.
A further type of undesirable separation of topping from snack food items occurs when the product is eaten. Frequently the topping adheres to the hands of the consumer. This phenomenon is referred to as "rub-off" both by the industry and in the present application. Rub-off of toppings from any snack food item is undesirable because, again, the product reaching the mouth of the consumer includes a reduced amount of the toppings. Rub-off of toppings, especially powdery or oil or fat-based toppings, is undesirable as it can leave a residue upon the hands of the consumer. Accordingly, the need exists for reducing all types of topping separation from snack food items prior to being consumed. A particular need exists for reducing the rub-off of powdery or oil and fat-based toppings onto the hands of consumers.
As stated briefly above, the present invention is directed to improvements in savory snack food items. The term "savory" is used herein as it is used in the industry to denote sack food items having a non-sweet dominant flavor. Many savory snack foods have saltiness and/or cheesiness as dominant flavors. Examples of savory snack foods include potato chips, pretzels, cheese puffs, corn chips, tortilla chips, crackers and the like. The dominant flavors of these snack foods sharply contrast with the sweet dominant flavors of non-savory snacks such as cookies, doughnuts and candies.
Savory snack food items frequently comprise a "base" food product portion and one or more toppings. Examples of snack food base portions include vegetable slices (e.g. fried potato slices of topped or seasoned potato chips), cooked dough pieces (e.g. of topped crackers or pretzels), and puffed food products (e.g. the extruded puffed corn collet of cheese-flavored puffs). Examples of common toppings include coarse and fine ground salt, pepper, seasoning powders such as garlic powder and onion powder, and fat and oil-based toppings such as cheese powders and granules.
According to the present invention, novel binders are employed to improve the adherence of toppings to base portions of snack food items in order to reduce rub-off. The binders also advantageously reduce the transfer of fat or oil from snack food items to the hands of consumers.